The Economy Made Him Do It

by Debbie Williams

Published: Fri, March 13, 2009 - 3:58 pm CST Last Updated: Fri, March 13, 2009 - 5:38 pm CST

"I was shocked when I heard about it." Lee Walters is doing what he can for his cousin. "I'm just trying to protect his house a little bit. I put a dog in here because there has been some burglaries in the neighborhood. I want to make sure his stuff is safe."
John Bicknas faces felony drug charges. Investigators found 80 marijuana plants growing inside his home according to Sgt. Ted Roy with the Escambia County Sheriff's Office. "If all his plants grew like they were suppose too, he had some new hydro-ponics growing which are valued at more, so he could have potentially 80 thousand dollars worth of marijuana growing in the house."
Bicknas told investigators he'd been out of work for over a year and couldn't afford to buy the marijuana he was used to, so instead he decided to grow it.
"He's been out of work for a little while," says Walters. "He did smoke a little bit, I guess it's like he said, just trying to grow his own."
Folks in the neighborhood say it sounds like a big excuse to them. "Usually the guilty try to find the most outlandish excuses for their actions," says neighbor Mike Sparks. "That sounds like what he was trying to do."
Neighbor Pearl Nall agrees, "We're all going through a bad time economically but not all of us are resorting to growing pot."
While Bicknas remains in jail, his cousin will watch over his things which could be for the next five to ten years.

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Theygiveittocancerpatients Says:

Fri, Apr 03, 2009 at 4:12 pm

Why do they prescribe marijuana if it sooo bad. The only bad thing people can say is the smoke itself is bad for your lungs, then just smoke it out of the vaporizer.I think if the government would just sit down and smoke a fatty we would be in better shape than we are now. Your going to put a harmless guy behind bars and talk about him like he is dirt. Like you got the big bad pot GROWER.Wow. Since when did pot cause so much disaster.? When the government realized they couldn’t stop people from growing it and they couldn’t tax it. You’d rather force pills down your kids throats and make them despise you there whole life then to just let them go hide in there room or in the backyard and smoke there lil “NATURAL” GROWING HERB. Because the doctor told you they have ADD or ADHD.Thats a bunch of bull****. Marijuana will be legal one day.

justanothergirl Says:

Sun, Mar 15, 2009 at 7:26 pm

yep and cause i cant pull enough money out of my wallet im gonna go rob a bank…. its just because of the times u understand?....nothing personal… i really dont want to, it just this bad economy…..thats all.

BamaBob Says:

Sat, Mar 14, 2009 at 1:55 am

Azote del juez para la droga

seektruth Says:

Fri, Mar 13, 2009 at 10:02 pm

I’d rather buy local than buy from Mexico. hahaha Agencies always exaggerate the value of the drugs to make the busts look bigger. Who’s more dangerous? A pothead or Herman Thomas?

Violator Says:

Fri, Mar 13, 2009 at 7:11 pm

The man was going green. Doing his part to stimulate the local economy. Just trying to cut out the middle man, logistically he was just supplying the demand.

BamaBob Says:

Fri, Mar 13, 2009 at 6:34 pm

80 thousand dollars? How can we be sure this wasn’t sub-prime pot valued at 20 thousand, appraised at 40 thousand and financed for 80 thousand?

With the crooks we have in D.C. and on Wall St. this just doesn’t seem all that important. We are getting ripped off on a daily basis for billions of dollars by those we put into power. At least this pothead had enough energy to grow his own!